The UN in the throes of crisis
By Carol Devine-Molin
web posted June 20, 2005
“Take the US out of the UN, and the UN out of the US!”
Certainly, I like the sound of it. It’s the type of rhetoric that
enmeshed with a strong feel-good element, particularly for
political conservatives. However, is it likely that the US is going
to withdraw from the UN? And, is any administration, whether
Republican or Democrat, going to expel the UN from the US
anytime soon? Let’s be honest. The answers are no and no.
And I say this with all due sadness.
The UN is clearly a den of both iniquity and inequity. But what of
justice? If we could magically rely upon “instant karma” for
justice to prevail, then UN personnel would be banished from
New York City forthwith, and sent packing to their partners-in-
crime over in France, Germany, Russia or China. It would be a
joy to see the UN set up their headquarters in one of those
nations that had high ranking officials conniving with UN
personnel and Saddam Hussein for the purpose of bilking of the
UN Oil-for-Food program.
Sure they all made filthy lucre from the nefarious wheeling and
dealing (bribes, kickbacks, etc.), while the starving people of
Iraq – who were originally designated to benefit from the Oil-
for-Food program – got short-shrift. UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan is currently being probed for any “conflict of
interest” stemming from a major UN Oil-for-Food contract that
had been awarded to the company, Cotecna, which employed
his son Kojo. In my opinion, he should also be investigated for
facilitating ill-gotten gains that were powerful incentives for other
nations to back-stab the US at the UN during the lead-up to the
Iraq War. However, all this Oil-for-Food corruption (that’s been
accurately dubbed a "Sopranos' Scheme") is only the tip of the
iceberg for the UN.
The UN has evolved into a thoroughly decadent institution, rife
with malfeasance and incompetence, which: 1) has failed to
prevent genocides in Rwanda and Sudan during this past
decade; 2) does nothing to rein-in corrupt UN peacekeepers
that have involved themselves in human trafficking (victims
reportedly from Bosnia, Romania, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus
and other former Soviet states) and sexual assaults in the Congo
and elsewhere in Africa; 3) permits tyrannical regimes to utilize
the UN as a forum to spout anti-American and anti-Semitic
claptrap; 4) makes a mockery of human rights by assigning
despotic and abusive regimes as members of the UN Human
Rights Commission (i.e. Libya, Sudan, Uganda, Sierra Leone,
Togo, Syria, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam); 5) does
virtually nothing to promote democracy; 6) does virtually nothing
to combat the awful problem of worldwide terrorism; 7) refuses
to enforce its own resolutions, as seen most notably in the case
of Saddam’s Iraq; 8) exhibits little respect for national
sovereignty; and, 9) seeks the authority to engage in global
taxation (i.e. tax on emails, Internet use, international airline
travel, fossil fuels such as gasoline, coal, oil, etc.) to fill its empty
coffers. And these are only the most glaring of the UN’s
reprehensible actions.
And how can I possibly leave out the infamous “looting the
eateries’ episode by UN staff to fully round out the institution’s
well-earned reputation of being a pit of slimeballs devoid of basic
manners and integrity. On 5/2/03, UN cafeteria and restaurant
workers walked off their jobs in a “wildcat strike”, which set the
stage for UN lunacy. UN employees, including diplomats, then
participated in an extensive looting spree, stealing all available
food and even stripping the UN’s five eateries of all their
silverware. The cupboards were literally left bare. Nice bunch
over at the UN! And these unsavory characters want to rule the
world? But I digress.
In the short run, the most we can hope for are some reforms
over at the UN. John Bolton, if installed as US ambassador to
the UN, would certainly aid the cause. Mind you, I’m not
expecting an enormous amount of improvement, even though
we’re now threatening to cut the UN off from a significant
amount of US funding. But some movement in the right direction
is absolutely essential at this juncture, given the UN’s strong
propensity to engage in illegal and unethical actions, and
irresponsible spending. In other words, the UN is imploding.
Republican Congressman Henry Hyde has authored vital
legislation known as the Henry J. Hyde U.N. Reform Act of
2005, which passed 221-184 and requires the United Nations to
mend its ways or lose fifty percent of US dues (the US
contributes 22 percent of the UN’s overall financial support).
When all is said and done, my hunch is that the UN will continue
in its downward trajectory of irrelevancy, although the process
will be somewhat slowed by US intervention. The one intriguing
possibility is that former president Bill Clinton takes over as
Secretary-General of the UN, as he has voiced interest in that
position. What will then play out is anybody’s guess.
Carol Devine-Molin is a regular contributor to several online
magazines.
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